Flashback
by arabmorgan
Summary: Just because their story doesn't have a happy ending doesn't mean it shouldn't be told. AU.


**Flashback**

i.

Ino has always had this thing for people's scents. It's pretty clear to her that everyone has their own personal scent, and she simply can't understand why her friends find it so odd when she randomly compliments them with exclamations along the line of, "You smell so nice today, Hinata-chan!"

Kiba smells lovely to Ino, in a way she can't really explain. "Musky" or "strong" just doesn't cut it, it's simply incredibly comforting. She likes to lean on the side of his shoulder snugly with her arm looped through his, just breathing him in with a tiny contented smile on her face, like a satisfied cat.

They even develop a habit of exchanging sweaters in the morning. Actually, Kiba starts it by stealing her jacket right out of her hands one day, leaving his own pullover behind and dashing off to class with the most adorable cheeky grin Ino has ever seen. She is quite happy with the arrangement, and indeed she finds it calming to have Kiba's pullover wrapped around her as she scribbles notes (and little smiley-faces) in the margins of her books.

Strangely, it is one of the things she misses the most after the end. When she is still pining after him just weeks after, the realisation that she has forgotten Kiba's once-familiar smell invariably brings tears to her eyes. Even months later, she sometimes gets the irrational thought that she wants Kiba's smell back more than she wants Kiba himself.

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ii.

It's pretty much an unspoken agreement between them that lunch is strictly friend-time. Sure, they may buy food together and catch each other's eye across the room, but they eventually head to different tables to eat.

The first time Kiba claps his hands over Ino's eyes as he passes her table on the way up to class, she gives a shriek of surprise, immediately reaching up to grab hold of whatever is obscuring her vision. Even before she recognises his familiar scent, she somehow manages to identify his hands first by touch. A smile touches her lips and she doesn't have to say anything, just leans her head back onto his stomach casually.

He doesn't do it often, just once or twice a week, coming over to where she sits to claim her as his. His friends and hers always have the same amused and teasing expressions as they watch the two communicate with soft touches and meaningful glances, which makes Ino feel an odd combination of pleased and embarrassed.

Honestly, she never fully grows to like the action—it is too unexpected and invasive, especially coming from the back as it does. Still, it is another action that forms the basis of her memories _after_. Ino finds herself constantly waiting, expecting, perhaps even looking forward to it, and it hurts when she remembers that he isn't even going to speak to her any time soon.

Once, at Sakura's eighteenth birthday celebration by the beach, Naruto sneaks up behind Ino and reaches out to cover her eyes. Her first instinct is to grin and relax into the waiting embrace, before she realises that it's just Naruto, being playful as always. Her smile falters, and she has to take a moment to walk down to the water's edge to regain her composure. She buries her toes in sand and watches the waves curl around her feet, hating how every little thing can remind her of him.

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iii.

Ino has been in all-girl schools her whole life (kindergarten doesn't count). She doesn't have the first clue what guys are like or how to talk to them, because Gossip Girl just doesn't prepare anyone for real life.

Kiba is the first guy to really try to get to know her. Later, he confesses that it is because the moment he saw her walk into class, he felt like she was special. Ino's weakness has always been her vanity, and sometimes she reflects on how incredibly naïve she was just a year ago.

When he invites her out for lunch, she accepts, both excited and nervous. It is surprisingly relaxed, and Kiba entertains her with an odd tale of sweet little Hinata being annoyed at him. He insists on paying for the meal, and as uneasy as Ino feels, she tells herself that maybe this is what guys usually do for all their female friends, some sort of chivalrous action to boost their masculinity.

"Do you want to make it official on Facebook?" Kiba asks that a week later, and Ino is sure her jaw is currently on the floor of the train they are in. The first thought that runs through her flabbergasted mind is, _When were we ever together?_ It is with a dawning sense of realisation that it occurs to her Kiba had seen the lunch as a date, and by that time it is too late. How awkward would it be to say it was all a misunderstanding?

She smiles and inclines her head to look him in the eye. "Sure, I'm fine with anything."

His answering grin is almost shy, and kind of makes the confusion worth it.

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iv.

Ino is with her girlfriends after school when she gets Kiba's 's waiting for him to finish track, and his name on her phone surprises her.

"_hey baby, mind helping me grab my chem file from my locker? :) only if it's not too troublesome! locker 11, code 3, 29, 39, rmb to pass through 0!_"

She rolls her eyes affectionately and complains about boys who think they can order girls around for a bit, before making her way slowly to the fourth level. It takes her three tries before she gets the locker open, because the lock is different from her own, and she is thoroughly exasperated by the time it comes open with a little click.

The first thing she sees is the stuffed brown and white bunny sitting on the piled books, a tiny paper umbrella clutched in its paws.

Ino flushes with pleasure and surprise—it's the stuffed bunny that they'd seen and she'd cooed over on their first date, marvelling endlessly over its soft fur and adorable face before reluctantly walking away. On the bottom of the paper umbrella, in Kiba's messy scrawl, is a single word, _SURPRISE!_ and a carefully drawn heart in red ink.

"_IT'S SO CUTE! omg thank you, you're the sweetest! Love you! you don't really need your file, do you? xD_"

"_nope :P love you too baby, see you later!_"

Hinata all but squeals over the exchange, her face going bright red even though nothing has actually happened to her. Tenten can't stop laughing at how horribly _mushy_ the entire situation is, "just like a bad rom-com!" Sakura sighs at the utterly romantic gesture, but not before grinning and demanding, "How did a pig like _you_ find a guy like Kiba?"

Ino can only throw a half-hearted smirk at her friends as she strokes the bunny's soft fur with a finger, happiness warming her from the inside.

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v.

Kiba has lovely brown hair, silky smooth even though it sticks out everywhere in the most haphazard fashion. Ino enjoys ruffling it, and running a finger down his sideburns, which are the absolute _softest_ strands on any guy's head.

The only thing is, he loves to dump a load of hair wax on it, which feels completely _gross_ to her. Honestly, he looks cuter and more endearing without the wax and the wannabe-mohawk, and she keeps insisting that he should come to school one day wax-free.

("For me?" Cue shy smile, and he caves.)

Kiba looks completely self-conscious the day he does, and he can't help but continually scowl as Sasuke and Neji give small smirks and call him whipped. Shino doesn't share his input, but Kiba can't shake the feeling that under that high-collared coat, his best friend has a similar, if completely uncharacteristic, smile on his face.

Ino grabs his hand as he starts to pat at his hair uneasily again, looking amused. "It looks _fine_! I think you look really cute," she repeats for the seventh time that day, leaning closer to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.

It gives her a funny empty feeling when she sees him around school _after_, and his hair is in its usual waxed state again. It reminds her of everything she's lost, that her opinion no longer matters to him, that she can't teasingly remind him that his hair is getting long and he's starting to look shaggy.

She wonders if the other girl prefers his hair waxed.

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vi.

Ino can tie a tie well enough, and fast enough to impress her male classmates. She always recounts her tie-tying lesson with ridiculous impressions of her fumbling fingers and misshapen knots, a tiny wistful smile lifting her lips.

Kiba is the one who teachers her how to tie a tie at the school sports meet. They aren't together yet, but they're already close enough that they're always being teased for being seen together so often.

The compulsory sports meet is the hugest waste of time in the world, and the whole incident starts when Ino comments on the pretty shape of Kiba's tie in comparison to Naruto's sloppy one. Naruto looks outraged, and Kiba more than pleased.

"I can teach you how to tie your tie like that," Kiba offers magnanimously to Naruto, sounding immensely superior. But it is a bored Ino who takes up his offer instead, sliding along the bench so they are shoulder-to-shoulder to get a better look.

Kiba's hands are warm on hers as he guides her along, one arm slung casually over her shoulder so he can reach her opposite hand. Even under his patient tutelage—somehow his fiery nature stays more or less dormant around her—her knot stays resolutely fat and completely misshapen, in her opinion.

She ends up visiting his class every morning and tying his tie for him as practice. "You can't untie it, okay?" she insists ever so sweetly, adjusting the knot under his throat carefully as she waits for his reluctant agreement. She can't help but laugh at his long-suffering expression, but to his credit, he _does _wear her tie each day anyway.

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vii.

Ino can't bring herself to look him in the eye when he places the little dog keychain in her hand. She stares at his large hand, his skin brushing hers as the token drops in her palm, and tries to fight back tears.

"I was going to give this to you, but I never got to." The tiny tremor in Kiba's voice tells her he isn't as composed as he seems, but it is scant comfort to her.

It seems an age before she manages to lift her head to look at him. All the while, she can't help but notice that he looks the same, with his too-long bangs and familiar lop-sided grin. It makes her wonder how it can be that everything has changed when really, nothing has.

Ino shrugs, lifting her lips in a tight, painful smile. "Thanks," she murmurs. There is a moment of unfamiliar awkward silence that stretches around them, the kind of silence that exists between two people who know so much about each other, but have to pretend they don't.

"Well, I should be getting back to class. I'll see you around!" She gives a cheery wave and turns, not waiting to see his reaction—relief, perhaps, or dare she hope, regret?

It's as if every moment they've had together replays in her head as she puts one foot in front of the other, remembering to keep her head up because he's behind her, and he might still be watching. She wishes there were second chances, and she wishes she knew what went wrong, because she already misses what they had.

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_The only reason we hold on to memories so tight, is because memories won't change, when everything else does.  
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**A/N: 95% true story. Reviews are appreciated :)**


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